How to bring the boys home: Popular opposition to the Korean War

Abstract

This chapter examines the actions of opponents to the Korean War, the consequences for the British state and how British people felt about such forthright critics of the war. This chapter first starts by analysing the heavily criticised Communist Party of Great Britain. It unpicks the central elements of Communist opposition to the war and the largely poor reception their campaign received. This chapter nevertheless highlights the cultural tenacity and appeal of one recurring component of British Communist opposition – anti-Americanism. This sentiment chimed with other strands of post-war British culture and set the tone for later protest movements and cultural responses to Americanisation in the second half of the twentieth century. This chapter also explores instances of frontline resistance from British servicemen, showing how servicemen and others in Korea - most notably war correspondents - were appalled by the level of violence directed at the civilian population. It examines allegations of biological or ‘germ’ warfare put forth by the ‘Red Dean of Canterbury’ Hewlett Johnson (1874-1966) and the scientist Joseph Needham (1900-95), before concluding with a detailed examination of the infamous town planner Monica Felton, who visited North Korea during the war.